The Last Flight (The Twilight Zone)

"The Last Flight" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Part of the production was filmed on location at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, California. The vintage 1918 Nieuport 28 biplane was both owned and flown by Frank Gifford Tallman, and had previously appeared in many World War I motion pictures.

Plot

Flight Lieutenant Terry Decker, of the British Royal Flying Corps, lands his World War I-era Nieuport biplane on a 1959 American airbase in France, after flying through a strange cloud. He is immediately taken into custody and questioned by the American base commander General Harper and his deputy, Major Wilson, who ask Decker if he was trying to make a film or was part of an air show. Decker identifies himself and his squadron and informs the American officers that the day is March 5, 1917. When in turn informed that it is March 5, 1959, Decker is shocked. Decker tells the officers that he and his comrade Alexander Mackaye were fighting seven German aircraft and that Mackaye died. Decker refuses to believe that Mackaye is alive, and has become an Air Vice Marshal in the Royal Air Force, as the American officers inform him. Mackaye had been a hero during the Second World War, saving thousands of lives from German bombing. The Americans also ask Decker if he knew that Mackaye was actually coming to inspect the base that day. Major Wilson attempts to engage Decker to recollect and find an explanation. Decker recalls and confesses that through his service, he had acted as a coward, only pretending to do his duty and managing to go off on his own during patrols. Only now he and Mackaye were together when confronted with a large number of German aircraft, and Decker chose to escape rather than support Mackaye. He refuses to believe that Mackaye somehow escaped with his life. At an off-hand suggestion of Wilson that maybe someone else helped him, Decker realizes that he has been given a second chance. He tells the American officer that there was no one within fifty miles who could have come to help Mackaye, so if Mackaye survived, it had to be because he went back to help him. Decker pleads with Wilson to release him from custody, but upon meeting with refusal, he assaults the guards and escapes. Finding his plane, he is about to take-off when Wilson catches up and puts a gun to his head. Decker tells him to let him go, as saving Mackaye would also mean saving thousands of lives that Mackaye had saved during the Second World War. Decker also tells Wilson to shoot if he wants to, because this was an opportunity for him to redeem himself from his previous cowardice. Wilson allows him to escape, and Decker flies his plane into the white clouds.

Major Wilson is rebuked for letting Decker go, but when Air Vice Marshal Mackaye visits, he asks him if he knew Decker. Mackaye says that Decker had saved his life by helping him fight the German planes that day. Although initially he feared Decker had deserted him, Mackaye says Decker returned from out of nowhere to shoot down three German planes, before he was shot down himself. General Harper now shows Mackaye the badge and personal effects of Decker which had been confiscated, when Mackaye told them they were never returned by the Germans. When Mackaye insists on demanding what all this is about, Major Wilson suggests he sit down, calling him "Old Leadbottom" (as Decker had done). "What did you call me?", Mackaye asks incredulously (for no one outside his squadron knew that), as we see the clouds outside the General's window...

Episode notes

This was the first episode of The Twilight Zone scripted by Richard Matheson. Rod Serling had previously adapted the episode "And When the Sky Was Opened" from a short story of Matheson's.

Inaccuracies

The USAF Major General repeatedly refers to Mackaye as "sir", and suggests that he is a superior officer, inspecting the Air Base. However, Mackaye is ranked as an Air Vice Marshal, which is an RAF rank equivalent to Major General, thereby making the two officers equals.

The Royal Flying Corps never flew the Nieuport 28.

The rank of flight lieutenant existed in the Royal Naval Air Service and later in the RAF. It was never used in the Royal Flying Corps.

Further readings

• DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
• Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090

External links

• "The Last Flight" at the Internet Movie Database